


Undertow

by antonomasia09



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Force-Sensitive CT-27-5555 | Fives | ARC-5555, Gen, Inspired by Fanart, Mentioned CT-21-0408 | Echo, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Not Canon Compliant, Protective CT-27-5555 | Fives | ARC-5555, Stasis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:34:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23775433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antonomasia09/pseuds/antonomasia09
Summary: AU where all ARC’s are kept in stasis between missions. Fives dreams and wakes and dreams and wakes.
Relationships: CT-21-0408 | Echo & CT-27-5555 | Fives | ARC-5555
Comments: 17
Kudos: 79





	Undertow

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this drawing](https://antonomasia09.tumblr.com/post/615978216543469568/shiny-shock-so-ya-know-how-they-kept-arc) (warnings for non-sexual nudity). According to wookiepedia, it was just the Alpha ARC’s that were kept in stasis, and that’s Legends not canon, but the angst potential was excellent and I couldn’t help myself. Thanks to alyyks for cheerleading!

Fives had heard stories about ARC troopers practically since he was decanted. Brave, clever, fast, tough, the best of the best. It was every clone’s dream to become an ARC trooper, and Fives was thrilled that he and Echo would get that chance.

What the stories didn’t say: ARC troopers were _too_ smart, _too_ strong, _too_ unpredictable for the Kaminoan’s liking.

What Captain Rex and Commander Cody failed to mention: ARC troopers that were not actively deployed were ordered to the medbay for routine examinations, and then drugged unconscious and locked in stasis tanks until they were ready to be used.

What the Kaminoans didn’t realize, or maybe they just didn’t care: the same dosage of sedative didn’t have the exact same effect on every soldier.

***

Fives woke up slowly, confused, not remembering having fallen asleep. His whole body felt weightless, but it was hard to move, the air providing more resistance than it normally did when he touched a clumsy hand to his face to scratch his itchy nose. 

He couldn’t reach his nose. There was something hard covering it; covering his mouth as well. Fives frowned and poked harder, and then there was something sweet in his nostrils and his head somehow felt even lighter than the rest of him, and his hand fell slowly as he slipped back into unconsciousness.

Fives woke up again, slowly, confused. His whole body felt weightless and it was hard to move, and there was something hard covering his nose and mouth. He frowned and lifted his hands slowly, as if dragging them through goop, to feel around the covering. There were tubes coming out the bottom, thin and snakelike. He tried to follow them but his fingertips were numb, and they extended further than he could reach, up and up and up forever.

He gave a weak, experimental tug on the tubes, before the scent of something sweet reached his nose and he once again slipped away.

Fives dreamed of training. Of failing over and over again, until finally Domino Squad managed to work together and capture the flag. He dreamed of Rishi outpost, of droids and eels and blaster bolts and explosions. Of Droidbat and Cutup and Hevy disappearing one by one, until it was just Fives and Echo left. 

He dreamed of Separatist forces attacking Kamino, of scared cadets, of Ninety-Nine who had never been scared and had died so his brothers could live.

He woke up. He slept. He woke and slept and woke and slept, and somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew this was wrong. There was a war going on that he was supposed to be fighting in. There was Echo, somewhere, who needed him. 

Fives woke up, slowly, confused. There was something hard on his face but nothing beneath his body, and he managed to blink his eyes open to try to figure out where he was.

Everything was dark and tinted blue, nothing like the bright white halls of Tipoca City or the dull grey of Rishi station. His vision was wavy too, like the air around him was thick enough that he could see it move. He raised an arm, watching with fascination as it slowly drifted upwards at his command.

Not air; some kind of liquid. Was he in bacta? He couldn’t remember getting hurt, but he’d talked to brothers that had gotten injured in training accidents, and they didn’t always remember how it had happened.

He looked around, twisting to see if he could catch a glimpse of a med droid or maybe even a living medic to let them know he was awake and feeling fine now. Instead, there were just tanks. Rows and rows of tanks, each with a brother floating limp.

There was some sort of noise coming out of Fives’ throat, half wail half panicked whimper because in the tank right next to his was Echo, tiny currents making his hair sway gently. Fives reached towards his brother, pressing his hand desperately against the glass of the tank. Echo didn’t look up, just hung there suspended in the liquid, dead to the world.

And then there was a sweet smell, and Fives wrenched his hand back and tried to tug off the mask because no, he couldn’t go to sleep again; he had to get to Echo. But it was too late, and his eyes fluttered shut as awareness once again fell away.

Fives dreamed of Echo. Of the Citadel training exercise, and then of another Citadel, this one a prison. He dreamed of burning cold, and then burning heat as a shuttle exploded, and Echo was standing too close, he was going to get caught in the blast and Fives was too far away to reach, could do nothing but scream his brother’s name.

He woke with a start, panic shooting through his body, but somehow every movement he made was slow. He opened his eyes to rows and rows of tanks, to Echo floating unconscious, to a strangled scream stuck in his throat.

There was a Kaminoan with a datapad outside his tank, looking at him like he was some sort of particularly irritating insect she might want to squash.

Fives, trapped, without a weapon, without armor, without _clothing_ , curled into himself as best he could. His breath was coming fast, but he couldn’t help glaring at the Kaminoan.

She tapped a few buttons on her datapad. Fives realized what she’d done just before the sweet scent once again filled his breathing mask, and he thrashed, trying to get enough adrenaline into his blood to counteract the sedative and give him time to get the mask off. It was no use. The last thing he saw before his eyes slipped shut was the Kaminoan’s satisfied gaze.

Fives woke. There was nothing on his face, but there was a hard surface all along his legs and his back and his skull, and he couldn’t move at all.

He opened his eyes to blinding white light and then slammed them shut again. He could fight blind if he had to, if he could just raise his arms or legs, if he could just _get to Echo_.

“Easy, brother. Easy,” a voice said, familiar in the sense that all clone’s voices sounded familiar, but not one that Fives knew.

“I’m Commander Blitz,” the clone said. 

“Fives,” Fives rasped. His throat hurt, like he’d been screaming for hours.

“Yes, I know.” Blitz sounded amused. 

“Where’s Echo?”

“In the bed to your left. He hasn’t woken up yet, but he will soon.”

Fives managed to turn his head and squint against the light. Sure enough, Echo was lying there. There were restraints across his chest and shoulders, and over his ankles, but he looked like he was sleeping peacefully. Fives breathed a sigh of relief, letting go of some of the tension coiling his body tight, and turned back to Blitz.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

Blitz smiled. “We have a mission for you boys, with the 501st. Are you ready?”

Something was screaming in Fives’ head, a dream he couldn’t quite recall, a blossom of heat across his skin and all-consuming grief.

He shoved it away, along with the memory of waking up repeatedly in the silent watery darkness, and grinned up at Blitz. “Ready, sir!” he said.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm marking this as complete because it's at a good stopping point, but I have some more ideas for it, and may add additional chapters later.


End file.
